Dreams Series: Part One
by HGWeasley
Summary: Harry hears Ginny having a nightmare. Could be cross-listed as Mystery. Read and enjoy!
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A/N--None of these fine characters are mine; they belong to a lovely woman named J K Rowling. Enjoy!  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part One   
  
  
Harry sighed and got out of his sleeping bag. Once again, counting sheep was no use. He checked to make sure he hadn't woken Ron, but he was still lying in bed with his mouth open, surrounded by pictures of sleeping Chudley Cannons. "Maybe a glass of water would help," he thought. "Not that it ever does..."   
  
He was walking down the hall when he heard sobbing coming from down the stairs. "Ginny?" he wondered as he hurried down the stairs to her room, almost running into Percy as he apparated right in front of Ginny's door.  
  
"Percy?"   
  
"Harry?" Percy looked at him bleary-eyed, obviously asleep until a minute ago. "Go back to bed, Harry; I've got it," he whispered back. "She'll be all right."   
  
"No, it's ok, I'll come in with you." Where had that come from?  
  
"No." Percy's voice, though still soft, held the finality he often heard in Dumbledore's voice. More gently still he said, "Harry, this is horrible enough for her without being humiliated because you're there. Go back to bed." With this he knocked on Ginny's door, but receiving no answer opened it and was shutting the door behind him when he turned back around to whisper, "Please don't tell anyone, Harry. No one knows except Mum and Dad."   
  
Harry stood there a moment looking at the closed door, more than a bit confused.   
  
"Ginny, Ginny, wake up. Shh, shh, it's over now, it's past. Wake up, Ginny. There's my girl." Her crying became muffled as Harry supposed she was crying into Percy's shoulder. "Shh, I'm here. It's past." Her sobs slowed and finally stopped, Percy whispering all the time that she wasn't alone, that everything was ok now.  
  
"Must be nice," Harry thought. "To have a family to hold you when you cried and be there for you after bad dreams to tell you it was all over and everything was ok." Whatever Percy Weasley's faults were (Harry was privately afraid that he would grow up to be another Cornelius Fudge.), he was clearly devoted to his sister.   
  
He was turning to go up to bed in an attempt to stop his further descent into self-pity when he heard Percy say, "You ok now, Gin? The same one again?" A reoccurring dream?  
  
"Why can't they just stop, Percy?" Ginny sounded at once like a little girl and a weary grown woman.  
  
"Wish I knew, little bit. But I'm here, I'll keep on being here--you remember that."  
  
She tried to cover her fear with irritation. "So it was your turn tonight, huh? You know, I'm fourteen now. I can take care of myself after some stupid dream."   
  
Percy answered seriously, "You know how important your dreams are, Ginny; they aren't stupid at all. I know you've only seen the past so far, but that's still a lot to deal with, even if they don't progress. I do know you could take care of yourself just fine if you had to, but what you have family for, after all, is so you don't have to face these things alone."  
  
Ginny sounded as if she was close to crying again. "Yeah, me, but what about-"  
  
Percy cut her off with a smile in his voice, "Well, we're working on that, too, aren't we?"   
  
She giggled a bit, then stopped abruptly. Her voice was strained as she began. "What if they don't stop when I go back to school? Everybody's going to hear me."  
  
"Don't worry about that. Mum and Dad got an owl from Dumbledore tonight after you went to bed. There's a new charm on your bed; he'll be able to hear if he needs to wake you up from a nightmare, but nobody else."   
  
"Like here? Just you and Mum and Dad?"   
  
Percy paused. "Yes, like here. Time to go back to sleep now. Do you want me to sit by your bed until you fall asleep?" Ginny must have nodded. "Ok, little bit. Don't stick your tongue out at me; I'll call you that until you're a hundred. I'll see you in the morning."   
  
Harry, thoroughly confused by what had just transpired and feeling guilty for eavesdropping, went back up to Ron's room. A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him and he fell asleep.  
  
  
End part one. I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, I'll be putting up more parts, and all will be revealed in time, but I have to warn you they'll be pretty slow in coming. Schoolwork is piling up as I write!   
  
Read and Review, folks! I follow Professor Dumbledore's example-you are free to call me a "barmy old codger" if you like! :)  



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A/N--Howdy, yall! Thanks for reading my story. All you kind reviewers have cured me of the habit of not always reviewing-you guys are so awesome! Yall are the ones who keep me writing instead of studying, so keep it up!! Very clever observations, Ginny Potter--Ten points to Gryffindor!  
Ms. Rowling-thanks for letting all us fanfic writers use your characters; they aren't ours :)  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Two  
  
  
When Harry awoke the next morning he barely remembered the events of the previous night (really early morning); he just had a vague awareness that something strange had happened.   
  
"Harry-hey, get up. Hermione's coming at breakfast."  
  
"Mmm, ok Ron." He sat up and put on his glasses.  
  
Ron was trying not to look too impatient. "She'll be here any minute."   
  
"She won't care if we're a minute late. She's our best friend."   
  
"Right, of course. I'm just really excited that we're going to Diagon Alley by ourselves this year."   
  
"Really? By ourselves? Why?"  
  
"Oh, Ginny's not feeling well again, so Mom's staying home and letting me get our stuff. Doesn't trust Fred or George. Seems to think they'll spend it all in a joke shop. They have been buying a lot of stuff lately. They've made a lot of progress on their inventions this summer; my favorite is the Pirouette Powder. You put it in someone's shoes and they can't stop dancing. Lee Jordan came over last week and was flying around like a ballerina for half an hour before Mum found out and made them put him back to normal."   
  
Harry was dressed by the time Ron finished with his tangent on the twins, so they went downstairs. What was bothering him...? Oh, yeah...Ginny wasn't feeling well. Well, that had happened a lot this summer, why was it--her dream. She must be feeling ill because of her dream. What could be that bad?  
  
"Everything ok, Harry? You look a bit spaced out."  
  
"Hmm? Oh, sorry Ron; just still waking up." He'd almost told Ron before remembering what Percy had asked of him. Fortunately Ron was otherwise occupied.  
  
"Hermione!"  
  
"Ron, Harry!" Hermione, grinning widely, stepped out of the fire to run and hug them both around the neck.  
  
"You've gotten taller."  
  
"So have you. Where is everyone?"   
  
"Ginny's asleep upstairs, under the weather. Percy's probably working on some report and Mum and Dad just left to do a few errands. They'll be back soon. Fred and George are already at Diagon Alley. Mom left us some breakfast, though. Hungry?"   
  
They ate quickly and went by floo powder to The Leaky Cauldron. "Finally getting the hang of this," Harry thought as he stepped out of the grate. It was so good to be back. Harry could hardly wait to go get his school things and the day after tomorrow, to be back on the Hogwarts Express headed towards Griffindor Tower.   
  
"Oops," he suddenly thought. "Guys? I forgot and left my money bag back at The Burrow."   
  
"Do you want us to come back with you?"  
  
"No, that's ok Hermione. Go on without me. I'll meet you in Flourish and Blotts's?"  
  
"Sure thing, Harry," Ron said quickly. Harry grinned. Ron's ears turned pink.  
  
He threw some floo powder in the fire. "See you two in a bit, then. The Burrow!"  
  
Back at the Weasley house, Harry ran upstairs to get his moneybag. On the way back down the stairs he heard Mrs. Weasley.  
  
"Arthur, Percy and I were there. We all know you did that charm correctly. Now why could Harry hear Ginny's nightmare?" Harry stepped down into the kitchen to see Ron's parents and Percy sitting at the far end of the table. The Weasleys all looked at Harry and then at one another.  
  
"Er, sorry... I didn't mean to intrude, I just forgot my moneybag. I'll just be going now."   
  
Mr. Weasley looked at his wife and then sighed. "No, Harry, sit down. We need to tell you some things about Ginny."   
  
"Umm, ok Mr. Weasley." Percy pulled out a chair for him. The Weasleys all looked at one another again. Harry squirmed in his seat, feeling very uncomfortable.  
  
Finally Mr. Weasely spoke up. "I guess I'll explain it. For several years now Ginny has been having nightmares. They have generally been very infrequent but recently have come much more often.   
  
"They upset her very much, and she's very self-conscious about them, so we put a charm on her room so that only Mrs. Weasley, Percy or myself could hear if she were having a nightmare. We take turns going to wake her up and sit with her." Harry remembered to nod in a manner suggesting he had not heard any of this before.  
  
"So, why are we telling you this?" Harry had been beginning to wonder. "Well, we must have done the charm incorrectly; you heard her, too."   
  
Harry stared at them. "What does that mean?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley glanced sideways at her husband and spoke up before he could answer. "We're not quite sure, dear. We've owled Dumbledore to ask him but haven't heard back yet. The charm wakes one of us every time she has a nightmare, but it shouldn't wake anyone else, not even the other two of us, nor should anyone already awake be able to hear her.  
  
"As Arthur said, one possibility is that we somehow performed the spell incorrectly. The other possibility is that there is something about you in particular which breaks through the charm. We don't know exactly what that would be, but it is an alternate theory."   
  
Silence again.  
  
"Such being the case, Harry, we wanted you to be aware. Dumbledore has put the charm on Ginny's bed at school. It should wake him if Ginny needs him. Again, no one else should be able to hear her, as long as it's only a nightmare. Since Professor Dumbledore is putting the charm on the bed himself, if you can still hear her... well, again, none of us three can fully explain that."   
  
The three waited for Harry's reaction.  
  
"What are they about, the dreams?"   
  
Mrs. Weasley answered again, "Various things, just nightmares. Thank you, Harry, for keeping this secret. I know it is hard, you and Ron and Hermione being so close, but Ginny would be so embarrassed if she knew that anyone--especially you--knew. I don't think I'm betraying anything to say she's always been a bit taken with you. I doubt you could have missed that." The four smiled a bit at Mrs. Weasley's words.  
  
"I won't say anything, I promise."   
  
"Thank you, dear. You'd better run on now. Ron and Hermione will be missing you."   
  
His moneybag gotten Harry soon found his two best friends arguing over the merits of reading seventh-year textbooks for fun. "Hi, you two." He couldn't help but be amused by their determination to keep up the hate part of their love-hate relationship.   
  
They both shot glares at one another before Ron answered, "Hey Harry. Where have you been? She's trying to convince me to start studying for NEWTs-we haven't even taken the OWLs!" Hermione scowled. She thought her idea was perfectly reasonable.  
  
"Took me a while to find my bag."  
  
"Ok, you want to go to the Quidditch supply store?"  
  
"Sure, let me get my books and we'll go."   
  
"Harry?" Hermione asked quietly, so Ron wouldn't hear.  
  
"Everything's fine, Hermione, I promise. Nothing's wrong at all." She gave him a look saying she was momentarily appeased but knew he was hiding something. "Let's just have fun, everything is fine." He smiled to try to make his point.  
  
"Ok, if you're sure."  
  
And with that they had a pleasant, uneventful day.  
  
  
End Part Two  
  
Next Chapter, they're back at Hogwarts! Read and review, por favor! Positive comments, constructive criticism, and witty flames are all so welcome!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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Sadly, they all belong to JK Rowling, don't they? The dreams stay offstage in this part, but in Part Four you'll get some of the really juicy details, I promise. Thanks to all you who have been reviewing! Five points to all your houses!  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Three  
  
Two months had passed in relative normality at Hogwarts, strangely free of mystery and adventure. The threat of Voldemort was a constant shadow, but there had been no more deaths and most students, even the Hufflepuffs, were anxious to focus on classes, Quidditch games, and the Halloween feast that night to forget the past and ignore the future.  
  
"Hurry up, guys-I'm hungry."   
  
Hermione laughed. "We're coming, Ron." She, Harry, and Ginny laughed as the former two caught up with the hungry new Gryffindor keeper and headed down to breakfast.  
  
As they climbed through the portrait hole, Harry looked back at Ginny. She had been hanging out with the three more often since coming back to school, though she still spent the chief of her time elsewhere. By the time Harry had arrived at the Burrow for those few days at the end of the summer, Ginny had learned to carry on a conversation with him without embarrassment. Still, though, she didn't seem overeager to talk to him any more than she had to.   
  
In that, she was not unlike another girl in his life. When they entered the Great Hall, Harry saw Cho laughing and talking with her friends. The butterflies he'd once felt around her had completely vanished. The pleasantness of that feeling was gone. Now he only felt like he was going to be ill whenever he saw her.  
  
She'd written him over the summer to make sure he know how grateful she was to him for bringing Cedric's body back and that she didn't blame him "for what had happened." That was as close as anyone ever got to mentioning Cedric's death.   
  
Harry knew it hadn't just "happened." Voldemort had killed Cedric; Harry had been there, had witnessed it, had talked to his shadow. It hadn't just "happened"! Sometimes people just acted as if he had taken his NEWTs early and left... it was more than Harry could take sometimes.  
  
Cho chose that moment to look up. The laughter flickered out as she briefly met Harry's eyes. She evidently got the same sick feeling as he did. They generally avoided on another as much as possible. How they'd both manage to get through the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match Harry didn't know.   
  
Harry's friends had taken upon themselves the burden of never allowing him to "brood," as he'd overheard Hermione say. So upon seeing Harry's mood change that morning Fred and George bewitched the hair of all the Slytherin team players to flash crimson and gold in a hilarious show of Gryffindor pride. Snape, of course, was furious. Dumbledore seemed to find it highly amusing.   
  
Everyone agreed with Harry when he said the look on Malfoy's face was easily worth ten points from Gryffindor. What they would only say to each other, and later, was that the prank would have been worth five hundred points from Gryffindor because Harry's laugh had been happy and genuine, and he had snapped back into a true good mood.   
  
The breakfast owls arrived. Hedwig swooped down and exchanged her letter for a piece of Harry's toast.  
  
"Snuffles?" Ron whispered.  
  
"No, Hagrid." Harry smiled as he opened the letter and read the first few lines. "He wants us to come to his hut after the Feast. Says he has a surprise. Wants us to look at some new animal, I reckon. Maybe it's another species of skrewt."   
  
"I wish I could, Harry, but Ron and I have to work on his Potions essay. You've finished yours, though, right?"   
  
Ron was starting to protest her automatic removal of his free will when Harry said, "Er, well, no. I'll do it when I get back." Hermione's face twitched, then displayed her resigned disapproval.  
  
"Well, you still can't go, Ron-you can't afford a bad essay for Snape."  
  
"Yes, mother."   
  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
Considering some of Harry's previous Halloween experiences (the beginning of his life [A/N 1], his parents deaths, becoming the fourth of three school champions, etc.), the day proceeded very normally. It was a slow Saturday. Nothing more going on that the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff Quidditch match.   
  
Harry didn't go.   
  
The Halloween Feast itself was loads of fun, with the normal gigantic magic pumpkins and the food was delicious, as it was every year.  
  
"The house elves must have been slaving for days over this one," Ron said, succeeding in his goal of angering Hermione. Harry supposed he was trying to get her back from not allowing him to go to Hagrid's place. (Harry thought it was amusing that Ron was doing something because Hermione said so. Too bad about the whole Krum thing, but Harry thought that would eventually work itself out. [A/N 2])  
  
Finally the feast was over. "Am I going to see Norbert, Jr., Hagrid?" They both grinned.  
  
"Nope, not that animal, but I'm not gonna tell you anthin' else, Harry." He was smiling broadly as he said this.  
  
They soon reached to door of Hagrid's hut and walked into the cabin to see another large dog in addition to Fang curled up in front of the fire.  
  
End Part Three   
I hope you enjoyed it! If so, please tell me why; if not, pull out some funny and creative Shakespearean insults! Please, guys, I LIVE for my little MSN messenger box popping up to tell my I have mail! Hopefully the next part should be up on Tuesday night! If yall like it, that is :)  
  
Oh, and the A/N's  
1. I think we can all count backwards nine months from July 31. I have a feeling that might be important to the books at some point. We'll see a bit more about that next time.  
2. Read What I was trying to say if you haven't!  
  
  
  
  



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[A/N] Thank you, JK Rowling! I love writing about your characters!  
  
Read through the story once. If you're just P.O.'d beyond belief at the end, go back and read the first part again. Don't forget to review!  
  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Four  
  
  
  
"Sirius!" One of the dogs awoke and changed into a man with black hair. He was looking healthier these days.  
  
"Harry." Sirius smiled as he embraced his godson.   
  
Hagrid beamed at Harry's happiness then turned to the door. "I've got to go talk to Dumbledore, but I'll be back later to walk you back to the castle."   
  
"What are you doing here, Sirius? Why aren't you hiding? Someone could see you!"   
  
"Oh, you know. I just missed you and wanted to see what you were up to these days." Too nonchalant.  
  
"You mean that you were worried about me. Stop worrying about me. Everybody worries about me. I'm fine."  
  
"Well, ok, Harry. I just want you to know that I'm here-that's what you have godfathers for, after all-so you have someone you can talk to." Percy's words to Ginny came back to him. He almost started to say something, but held back.   
  
"I'm fine, Sirius, seriously," Harry said, grinning at the old pun. "How is Professor Lupin?"   
  
"Professor Lupin-I still can't get used to that. How on earth did we get to be old and responsible?" Harry had to laugh along with Sirius at that. "He's doing very well, actually. Writes fiction for a magazine under a pseudonym, brings in enough to live on.  
  
"He wanted to come, but you know, full moon and all. He didn't want you to have to wait to get this."   
  
'This' was a photo album, like the one Hagrid had given him. "I was just able to recover an old trunk of mine, and this was in it." Sirius looked nervous. "I'd...I'd planned on giving it to your family that Christmas, if things were settled enough for me to see you. Happy Halloween."   
  
Harry stared at him, then sat down on a couch to look at pictures with his godfather.   
  
"I used a different type of film to take the pictures, shows a bit more movement and personality than the standard wizard type. This was the year before you were born... good grief, how can it have been sixteen years?   
  
The pictures started with a party, a Halloween party.   
  
Sirius continued, his voice falsely bright, "See, that's your dad and me and Lupin. There's Dumbledore with your mum. And your mum and dad dancing...this album is full of those...people loved to watch them dance, Harry. They were good of course, but mostly it was their happiness and enthusiasm, for dancing and life and each other that attracted watchers and photographers. They never looked more in love than when they danced, well, at least until you came along." Sirius had to stop talking. Harry didn't know what to say, so he turned the page.  
  
As Harry turned the pages he indeed saw many pictures of his father dancing with his mother. He turned her so gracefully. A stranger could have seen how much this young husband and wife loved one another.   
  
He saw more pictures of friends and relatives. Happy people with mugs of butterbeer. A woman he didn't know swooping mistletoe over unsuspecting couples' heads. A smiling woman with graying auburn hair at the piano singing Chrsitmas carols with his mum.   
  
Shortly after the Christmas party, his mum was noticeably larger, and there were several pictures of her at progressing stages of pregnancy.   
  
Finally Harry saw the first picture of himself... he was reaching up to his mom's face, which looked happy and exhausted. His dad was standing behind them as they sat in a low-backed rocking chair, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her arm, and his chin resting on top of her head.   
  
Then they turned and waved, and his mum held Harry the baby up for Harry the teenager to see. Harry the teenager quickly turned the page.  
  
His christening... Sirius was looking quite serious for once. Harry kept getting bigger and bigger until the pictures ran out before the pages did.  
  
Harry's throat was growing tighter and tighter. "Thank you," was all he could manage to get out.  
  
"You're welcome," was all Sirius could reply.  
  
Hagrid walked through the door.  
  
"Better take yeh back to yer room, Harry."   
  
He pulled himself back into control, "Oh, yeah, I guess so."   
  
Sirius followed suit. "I wish I could stay longer, Harry, but Dumbledore has work for me to do."   
  
"S'ok, I understand. Thank you again, Sirius. Owl me to let me know how you are doing, ok?"   
  
"I will if you will, Harry. Goodnight."   
  
"Bye, Sirius, see you around."   
  
"Count on it." He gave his Sirius grin and hugged him goodbye.  
  
Hagrid walked Harry back to the castle and said goodnight. As he walked along the corridor back to the common room, he looked through the photo album again.   
  
One of them finally broke him down... It had just been a picture of his mum and dad waving like the rest of them until his mum's eyes lit up and she reached over for his dad's hand...she placed it on her belly so that he could feel Harry kick.  
  
He leaned against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. Everything was just too much... It was his parents, and Neville's parents, and Cedric, and having to see Sirius in secret, and feeling like every day he had with the people he loved could be the very last one.  
  
"Stop it, stop crying" he whispered to himself. This was like some stupid Rita Skeeter article. Not only was he crying about his parents, he was talking to himself like a St. Mungo's escapee.   
  
Nevertheless he couldn't stop until he realized someone else was crying too. He heard sobs coming from a nearby classroom. What was somebody doing here at this time of night? As it often will, curiosity overcame grief for the moment. He opened the door and went in.   
  
Ginny? But he wasn't supposed to be able-no, that was only her bed. Of course he could hear her nightmare here. She was asleep in one of the desks, with her head on a book and a roll of parchment. Not moving, but crying as if in despair.   
  
What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to embarrass her, but he couldn't just leave her there.  
  
He called from the doorway, "Ginny!" and jumped back behind the doorframe so she wouldn't see him if she woke up. He peered back around. Nothing.  
  
He went in and knelt down beside her desk. He gave her elbow a light shove.  
  
No response.  
  
He shook her a little harder. "Wake up." Still asleep, still crying.  
  
He pulled up another desk to sit in so that he could put his hands on her shoulder and arm. "Ginny, come on, wake up. It's ok, it's ok. I'm here-you aren't alone anymore, it's past, it's over." He tried to say everything he remembered Percy saying.  
  
He evidently fooled her into thinking he actually was Percy because suddenly she had awoken and thrown herself into his arms and was crying into his shoulder.   
  
"It wasn't his fault, Percy. There wasn't anything he could do."  
  
"Um, of course not."   
  
"It was over before he knew it was going to happen, and he was in so much pain, Percy... And he was so scared and brave and he thinks it's all his fault because You-Know-Who killed Cedric and took his blood."   
  
Harry pulled away very abruptly. "What!?"   
  
Ginny was suddenly very awake, very red, and very horrified. She sprang up to run out of the room, but Harry caught her arm and pulled her back down. "What were you dreaming!" Calmness had been abandoned completely.  
  
She looked down at the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "The end of the Triwizard tournament..."   
  
"What?"   
  
"I am always standing on the side watching. I can see everything that happens, and feel what you feel and think. I see Wormtail kill Cedric. I see you throwing up from pain. I see him cut you. I feel how much you just want that thing to drown... I see Voldemort's transfomation. I see all the Death Eaters. I see the cage of light. I see your parents." She started to cry again.  
  
"SHUT UP! Y-YOU'RE MAKING THIS UP! YOU WERE NOT THERE-YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO CRY!   
  
His words startled Ginny into silence. She couldn't do anything but stare at him red-eyed and shocked. What was she expecting? Compassion?   
  
"Stay the hell away from me, Ginny Weasley. I don't want to look at you. I don't want to hear your voice. I don't want to talk to you, to think about you, or be anywhere near you. From now on, wherever I am, don't be there." All this he said with deadly hate in his voice. He got up and stalked out of the room back to Gryffindor Tower, back to the place that had once been filled with the people he loved and trusted.  
  
"Prognathic!" The Fat Lady woke up and swung open. ("You needn't be so rude!")  
  
Hermione and Ron were the only ones left in the common room, and looking up from books and scrolls of parchment, wondering why he'd just screamed at the portrait.  
  
"WHICH ONE OF YOU TOLD HER!!?"  
  
"What? Harry, calm down. What are you talking about?"   
  
"Don't even try that Miss-Voice-of-Reason thing with me now, you traitor. I am perfectly calm. WHICH ONE OF YOU TOLD GINNY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE PORTKEY?"   
  
"Bit of Dursley coming out in you, eh, Harry? Take that back about Hermione. She is not a traitor. Neither of us told her; we wouldn't do that, and you know it."   
  
Harry looked as if he was about to hit Ron, then stormed off to the bedroom, closed his bed curtains, and fell asleep clutching his new photo album to his chest. He wouldn't remember until many days later that he'd never told anyone about getting sick by Tom Riddle's gravestone.  
  
  
End Part 4  
  
  
A/N The end was a bit of a struggle to write. I've revised and revised. Harry actually ended up nicer and more concise than he started out. Anyway, so that is what is bad enough to make Ginny wake up in the night crying, at least in part. But all is not yet revealed! I've got the next two parts written, and ready to be posted, depending on how quickly the reviews come in.   
  
I really like hearing what you like and what you don't! Thanks mucho to all my reviewers! especially to muggle genius and L for the specifics! Especially now that you're starting to get some answers from me, please tell me what your questions are! I know what the answers to them are, but it's hard to keep up with what I've told you and what I haven't. If you feel flames in your heart, flame Harry for his actions (How can you be so mean, Harry!! I mean, I know you're in emotional turmoil from the photo album, but come on!), flame me for the story (That sucked! What kind of drugs are you on? (a/n-none, actually)).  
  
Another thing I want advice on. What do yall think about making this a G/H story?  
  
Also, a fanfic challenge totally unrelated to this story. Abracadabra. It's the magic word every Muggle knows. Say it out loud, though. Pretty close to Avada Kedavra, don't you think? Try as I may to come up with a story around the connection between the two, it won't come. So please, someone write a story about it, and let me know when you do! Or, if someone's already written one, what's the title? I'll love you forever and ever!  
  



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Disclaimer-JK Rowling owns the characters and all that other stuff, sadly enough for the med school loans I hope I get to take out :)  
  
  
A/N I have to say, it is a great privilege for me to write for such an intelligent bunch of reviewers. You have picked up on almost every clue I've given you and made the next logical step and told me what I'd already written (not all in this part, though!), some of you almost word for word (Ginny Potter strikes again!). I am thoroughly impressed, but not surprised. :) How am I going to trick you when you read so carefully? I guess I will have to work that much harder because yall deserve no less! Keep the reviews coming, guys! You inspire me!  
  
On an alternate note, to all my fellow college-aged writers/readers: good luck on any exams you have left, and hoo-ray for the ones you've finished! Are any of you out there all done?  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Five  
  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO GINNY/MY SISTER?"  
  
The argument that had followed was the last Harry had heard from Hermione or any of the Weasleys since November first, almost two months ago. Considering that Ginny hadn't even told anyone what provoked him to say all those things, Harry thought it was very unfair of them to automatically take her side.   
  
Not that he had really defended himself, he was too angry at their wholesale abandonment of trust in him.   
  
Harry was in no mood to apologize, even after realizing that Ron and Hermione, not even Dumbledore, could have told Ginny what she had told Harry. In fact, it had just made him angrier. She really was seeing the past.  
  
His past. And her knowing everything that had happened that night--how strange and small and scared and violated he had felt--made him feel strange and small and scared and violated all over again... That was the worst memory of his life, well, the worst that he could fully remember. That was the most private memory he had, and suddenly she knew everything about it. She knew the things he hadn't wanted to tell anyone else. She knew the things he had wanted to say but couldn't put into words. She knew all the things that most of his being was dying to forget. Ginny had made forgetting an impossibility.   
  
And that night is probably all she saw him as anymore. Probably pitied him whenever she thought of him. He'd have rather gone on being the famous great Harry Potter. He didn't want her pity. He didn't need it, he didn't need her; he didn't need anybody.   
  
Somehow that argument had worked better before Christmas holidays when everything was busy with classes, Quidditch practice, and feasts to distract him. Not that any of those things had been fun, of course. No one wanted much to talk with him. The Weasley boys and Hermione had decided that if Ginny wasn't welcome then neither were they. Dean, Neville, and Sean were nice, but they just weren't the same.   
  
But now that the holidays were here things were simply dreadful. All the other Gryffindors were gone except the Weasleys, whose parents had gone with Percy to visit Charlie again. Ron had moved into a vacated bed in the twins' room. Not that he and Harry had talked to each other before he moved out, but being all alone in a room for five on Christmas morning was almost unbearable.   
  
There was no Yule Ball this year, and not many people were staying in any of the houses. Malfoy was. Harry strongly suspected Malfoy had stayed simply to torment him in his loneliness, which he had done with great regularity over the past two months.  
  
Christmas morning. Rock-hard cakes from Hagrid. A sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Dungbombs from Sirius, along with a strange note ("I'm sorry I haven't been able to owl very much. Too dangerous. Wait until you see what I got Hermione!" [A/N 1] He hadn't told Sirius about their fight.). Nothing from Ron or Hermione, nothing from the Dursleys--not even a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.   
  
Ron was wrong. There wasn't any Dursley in him. He'd given away or gotten rid of every single thing they'd ever given him, including those glasses Dudley had broken a hundred times over. He'd gotten himself a new pair at Diagon Alley that summer... Diagon Alley... why did everything have to remind him of her and those stupid dreams?  
  
They all sat at one table for the Christmas feast, as they had during his third Hogwarts Christmas. Harry sat by two Ravenclaw fourth-years and didn't look at the Weasleys, especially Ginny. Harry felt Dumbledore's eyes on him and tried not to look back, but the headmaster wouldn't have it.   
  
"Here, Harry, have another cracker. All the doormice from your first have run off."   
  
"Thank you."   
  
Harry popped the cracker.   
  
A scrap of parchment fell out along with a hat.   
  
---Come to my office later this afternoon---   
  
There must be some news of Voldemort he wanted to warn Harry about. He looked back at Dumbledore and nodded seriously.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
He went upstairs after tea, but only for a short while. The Weasley boys had the common room and he didn't like the bedroom, empty as it was. It was late afternoon anyway. He put on his new sweater and headed to Dumbledore's office, ignoring the angry snarls coming from the common room inhabitants as he walked through.  
  
"Um, gingerbread man? Candy cane? Tutti Frutti? Finally."   
  
Harry made his way up the stairs and knocked on Dumbledore's door.   
  
"Come in, Harry."   
  
As he walked in the door he heard a shriek and felt the warmth of Fawkes bursting into flames. Harry didn't think he would ever get used to that.  
  
"I remember when my parents gave me Fawkes. I'd never even seen a phoenix but in pictures. Once I got to know him a little better I remember thinking I'd gladly trade places. Well, Merry Christmas again, Harry. Have a seat."   
  
Harry sat. "Thanks." He couldn't stand it anymore. "Is everything ok? Is Sirius hurt? Has Voldemort killed someone?"   
  
Dumbledore looked at him. "No, not that I know of, Harry."  
  
"Oh. I just thought something must be wrong for you to ask me here."   
  
"Hmm. Yes. Harry, is there anything you would like to talk to me about?"   
  
A thousand things. "No, sir."  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "Normally I do not get involved with students' personal affairs. But I cannot allow this trouble with you and Miss Weasley to continue."  
  
Harry started to protest his innocence, but Dumbledore held up his hand and continued talking.  
  
"This is far larger than the two of you, and it is especially important in times like this for everyone on the same side of the major issues to be united."   
  
"You said Voldemort hadn't done anything."   
  
"Voldemort hasn't killed anyone that we know of since Cedric. That is not the same thing as not having done anything. I am quite certain--both from experience and from current evidence--that Voldemort has been quite active but flying under the radar [A/N 2], so to speak.   
  
"Even so, I did not bring you here today to talk about Voldemort."   
  
Harry waited.  
  
"That is a lovely sweater you are wearing, Harry."   
  
Harry wondered if the rumors of Dumbledore losing it completely were true.  
  
"I believe Mrs. Weasley made it for you."  
  
"Yes, sir." Why had she made it for him, though, come to think of it? She must hate him for what he'd said to Ginny. He remembered the tiny Easter egg and cold words Hermione had received when all that gossip about her cheating on Harry had been circulating. But his sweater was just as it always was. Harry looked back up at Dumbledore, newly interested and perplexed.  
  
"I believe you have Miss Weasley to thank for that, Harry."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"It was on her insistence that no one told the rest of the Weasley family how you treated her. Now, don't think that she told me. I have my own ways."  
  
For a person who a moment ago had been ready to fight to the death to proclaim his guiltlessness in the matter, Harry's heart dropped to his stomach awfully quickly. He'd never felt so ashamed. Dumbledore knew what he'd said to Ginny. Worse than that, she'd been protecting him all this time.  
  
"I believe you also have her to thank that the rest of Gryffindor does not know. The Weasley boys are all very protective of her. It was not an easy battle on her part. She even tried to convince them to reconcile with you, but they held their ground on that issue."   
  
"Why would she do that?"   
  
"I believe she thinks she deserved what you said to her."   
  
Harry was feeling worse with every word Dumbledore said. "Why?"  
  
"Ginny has been having these dreams about your past since the end of her first year at Hogwarts," he said, as if that were supposed to explain everything.  
  
"But I thought it was just Cedric's death?"   
  
"Don't get sidetracked, Harry. You're asking the wrong question."   
  
Dumbledore obviously wanted him to be actively figuring this out.   
  
Who-Ginny. What-weird dreams. When-for the past three years, evidently. Where-wherever she slept.   
  
"Why is she having these dreams?"   
  
"We'll get to that. Try again."  
  
WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow.   
  
"How? How can she be having these dreams? I mean, she's not all into that inner eye divination stuff, is she?"   
  
Dumbledore smiled at him. That obviously was the right question. Then he laid down a quill on his desk and transfigured it into a snake.  
  
Harry had been following him for a minute, but-  
  
"Aren't you going to say hello, Harry?"  
  
Harry opened his mouth to do as he'd been told, then shut it, with a horrified look on his face. "Tom Riddle."   
  
"You are not the only one to come off better in a battle with Lord Voldemort, Harry. There are actually two of you, lest you forget. And she, like you, has her scars, her reminders.   
  
"Even as a teenager Voldemort already had the ability to see into other peoples' lives through his dreams. He gave her that like he gave you Parseltounge. (And the dreaming gift as well, though not nearly so well as to Miss Weasley. The dark powers that made him Lord Voldemort had weakened his dreaming capability.) You are not the only one who will never be able to forget."   
  
Dumbledore paused as though making a decision, then continued on.  
  
"She has snippets of your parents' deaths, a full memory of your side of the Chamber of Secrets, and even a little flash of your dream of Frank Bryce's murder. All those nightmares were generally very infrequent.   
  
"Cedric's murder and Voldemort's rebirth, however-that has been different. Your pain that night may have been a blessing in that it prevented you from seeing many of the things that happened. Ginny, however, has actually witnessed Wormtail kill Cedric two or three times a week, on average, for the past six months."   
  
In his own selfishness Harry had never thought of that. He'd have traded places with her any day, it was too much for Ginny, she was so fragile...  
  
"For almost the past four months, ever since coming back to Hogwarts, she has gotten through it alone, by her own choice. You underestimate her strength, Harry, and so does she.  
  
"Ginny bears the burden of feeling responsible. If only she'd been stronger, she thinks, none of this would have happened. She feels she was weak. That is why she feels she deserved your treatment."  
  
Before Harry could even decide what to think about all this, he heard a pair of feet come pounding up the stairs, followed by a frantic knocking on Dumbledore's door.   
  
"Come in."   
  
Ginny burst through the door, out of breath, visibly distraught. She saw Harry and started a bit.  
  
"We can speak more later, Harry. Go back to your room." Dumbledore's words conveyed an expectation of instant obedience, and Harry rose quickly.   
  
She took her eyes away from Harry. "No, Professor, he can stay," Ginny said hurriedly. "It's about the Hermione."   
  
End Part Five  
  
  
  
A/N 1 Don't go getting ideas about Hermione and Sirius, that's gross :P (no offense to those of you who've written them, I've favorably reviewed several, but I mean, eww. He's more than twice her age.)  
  
A/N 2 Winston Churchill called the battle between scientists on both sides of the war to create radar and radar detectors (and radar that could evade detection, etc., etc.) a "wizard war," but that's another story for another day. I'll get to finishing it after Dreams is all done.  
  
General Again, you guys, great reviews on Part Four! I so much appreciate them, they really help me keep my story on track and make me strive to improve them! Please, again, I love hearing all your theories and general opinions! Ask me questions! Yall are all so smart! :)  
  



	6. Default Chapter Title

None of the characters are mine-just JK Rowling's!  
  
I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth, guys, especially with the part five cliffhanger. I went home for Christmas and there were relatives everywhere and I was always visiting people.   
  
I'm reposting part five along with brand-new part six to clear up something my reviewers (I love each and every one of you!) pointed out to me.  
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Five  
  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO GINNY/MY SISTER?"  
  
The argument that had followed was the last Harry had heard from Hermione or any of the Weasleys since November first, almost two months ago. Well, except for those times Hermione had come back around trying to get him to talk about it again, but that didn't count. If a friend won't blindly take your side against his sister or other friend, what kind of friend are they?   
  
But he hadn't really defended himself, he was too angry at their "wholesale abandonment of trust" in him. Ginny hadn't even told them what had made him yell at her.   
  
Harry was in no mood to apologize, even after realizing that Ron and Hermione, not even Dumbledore, could have told Ginny what she had told Harry. In fact, it had just made him angrier. Though he never would have admitted it out loud, she really was seeing the past.  
  
His past. And her knowing everything that had happened that night--how strange and small and scared and violated he had felt--made him feel strange and small and scared and violated all over again... That was the worst memory of his life, well, the worst that he could fully remember. That was the most private memory he had, and suddenly she knew everything about it. She knew the things he hadn't wanted to tell anyone else. She knew the things he had wanted to say but couldn't put into words. She knew all the things that most of his being was dying to forget. Ginny had made forgetting an impossibility.   
  
And that night is probably all she saw him as anymore. Probably pitied him whenever she thought of him. He'd have rather gone on being the famous great Harry Potter. He didn't want her pity. He didn't need it, he didn't need her; he didn't need anybody.   
  
Somehow that argument had worked better before Christmas holidays when everything was busy with classes, Quidditch practice, and feasts to distract him. Not that any of those things had been fun, of course. No one wanted much to talk with him. The Weasley boys and Hermione had decided that if Ginny wasn't welcome then neither were they. Dean, Neville, and Sean were nice, but they just weren't the same.   
  
But now that the holidays were here things were simply dreadful. All the other Gryffindors were gone except the Weasleys, whose parents had gone with Percy to visit Charlie again. Ron had moved into a vacated bed in the twins' room. Not that he and Harry had talked to each other before he moved out, but being all alone in a room for five on Christmas morning was almost unbearable.   
  
There was no Yule Ball this year, and not many people were staying in any of the houses. Malfoy was. Harry strongly suspected Malfoy had stayed simply to torment him in his loneliness, which he had done with great regularity over the past two months.  
  
Christmas morning. Rock-hard cakes from Hagrid. A sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Dungbombs from Sirius, along with a strange note ("I'm sorry I haven't been able to owl very much. Too dangerous. Wait until you see what I got Hermione!" He hadn't told Sirius about their fight.). Nothing from Ron or Hermione, nothing from the Dursleys--not even a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.   
  
Ron was wrong. There wasn't any Dursley in him. He'd given away or gotten rid of every single thing they'd ever given him, including those glasses Dudley had broken a hundred times over. He'd gotten himself a new pair at Diagon Alley that summer... Diagon Alley... why did everything have to remind him of her and those stupid dreams?  
  
They all sat at one table for the Christmas feast, as they had during his third Hogwarts Christmas. Harry sat by two Ravenclaw fourth-years and didn't look at the Weasleys, especially Ginny. Harry felt Dumbledore's eyes on him and tried not to look back, but the headmaster wouldn't have it.   
  
"Here, Harry, have another cracker. All the doormice from your first have run off."   
  
"Thank you."   
  
Harry popped the cracker.   
  
A scrap of parchment fell out along with a hat.   
  
---Come to my office later this afternoon---   
  
There must be some news of Voldemort he wanted to warn Harry about. He looked back at Dumbledore and nodded seriously.  
  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
  
He went upstairs after tea, but only for a short while. The Weasley boys had the common room and he didn't like the bedroom, empty as it was. It was late afternoon anyway. He put on his new sweater and headed to Dumbledore's office, ignoring the angry snarls coming from the common room inhabitants as he walked through.  
  
"Um, gingerbread man? Candy cane? Tutti Frutti? Finally."   
  
Harry made his way up the stairs and knocked on Dumbledore's door.   
  
"Come in, Harry."   
  
As he walked in the door he heard a shriek and felt the warmth of Fawkes bursting into flames. Harry didn't think he would ever get used to that.  
  
"I remember when my parents gave me Fawkes. I'd never even seen a phoenix but in pictures. Once I got to know him a little better I remember thinking I'd gladly trade places. Well, Merry Christmas again, Harry. Have a seat."   
  
Harry sat. "Thanks." He couldn't stand it anymore. "Is everything ok? Is Sirius hurt? Has Voldemort killed someone?"   
  
Dumbledore looked at him. "No, not that I know of, Harry."  
  
"Oh. I just thought something must be wrong for you to ask me here."   
  
"Hmm. Yes. Harry, is there anything you would like to talk to me about?"   
  
A thousand things. "No, sir."  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "Normally I do not get involved with students' personal affairs. But I cannot allow this trouble with you and Miss Weasley to continue."  
  
Harry started to protest his innocence, but Dumbledore held up his hand and continued talking.  
  
"This is far larger than the two of you, and it is especially important in times like this for everyone on the same side of the major issues to be united."   
  
"You said Voldemort hadn't done anything."   
  
"Voldemort hasn't killed anyone that we know of since Cedric. That is not the same thing as not having done anything. I am quite certain--both from experience and from current evidence--that Voldemort has been quite active but flying under the radar, so to speak.   
  
"Even so, I did not bring you here today to talk about Voldemort."   
  
Harry waited.  
  
"That is a lovely sweater you are wearing, Harry."   
  
Harry wondered if the rumors of Dumbledore losing it completely were true.  
  
"I believe Mrs. Weasley made it for you."  
  
"Yes, sir." Why had she made it for him, though, come to think of it? She must hate him for what he'd said to Ginny. He remembered the tiny Easter egg and cold words Hermione had received when all that gossip about her cheating on Harry had been circulating. But his sweater was just as it always was. Harry looked back up at Dumbledore, newly interested and perplexed.  
  
"I believe you have Miss Weasley to thank for that, Harry."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"It was on her insistence that no one told the rest of the Weasley family how you treated her. Now, don't think that she told me. I have my own ways."  
  
For a person who a moment ago had been ready to fight to the death to proclaim his guiltlessness in the matter, Harry's heart dropped to his stomach awfully quickly. He'd never felt so ashamed. Dumbledore knew what he'd said to Ginny. Worse than that, she'd been protecting him all this time.  
  
"I believe you also have her to thank that the rest of Gryffindor does not know. The Weasley boys are all very protective of her. It was not an easy battle on her part. She even tried to convince them to reconcile with you, but they held their ground on that issue."   
  
"Why would she do that?"   
  
"I believe she thinks she deserved what you said to her."   
  
Harry was feeling worse with every word Dumbledore said. "Why?"  
  
"Ginny has been having these dreams about your past since the end of her first year at Hogwarts," he said, as if that were supposed to explain everything.  
  
"But I thought it was just Cedric's death?"   
  
"Don't get sidetracked, Harry. You're asking the wrong question."   
  
Dumbledore obviously wanted him to be actively figuring this out.   
  
Who-Ginny. What-weird dreams. When-for the past three years, evidently. Where-wherever she slept.   
  
"Why is she having these dreams?"   
  
"We'll get to that. Try again."  
  
WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow.   
  
"How? How can she be having these dreams? I mean, she's not all into that inner eye divination stuff, is she?"   
  
Dumbledore smiled at him. That obviously was the right question. Then he laid down a quill on his desk and transfigured it into a snake.  
  
Harry had been following him for a minute, but-  
  
"Aren't you going to say hello, Harry?"  
  
Harry opened his mouth to do as he'd been told, then shut it, with a horrified look on his face. "Tom Riddle."   
  
"You are not the only one to come off better in a battle with Lord Voldemort, Harry. There are actually two of you, lest you forget. And she, like you, has her scars, her reminders.   
  
"Even as a teenager Voldemort already had the ability to see into other peoples' lives through his dreams. He gave her that like he gave you Parseltounge. (And the dreaming gift as well, though not nearly so well as to Miss Weasley. The dark powers that made him Lord Voldemort had weakened his dreaming capability.) You are not the only one who will never be able to forget."   
  
Dumbledore paused as though making a decision, then continued on.  
  
"She has snippets of your parents' deaths, a full memory of your side of the Chamber of Secrets, and even a little flash of your dream of Frank Bryce's murder. All those nightmares were generally very infrequent.   
  
"Cedric's murder and Voldemort's rebirth, however-that has been different. Your pain that night may have been a blessing in that it prevented you from seeing many of the things that happened. Ginny, however, has actually witnessed Wormtail kill Cedric two or three times a week, on average, for the past six months."   
  
In his own selfishness Harry had never thought of that. He'd have traded places with her any day, it was too much for Ginny, she was so fragile...  
  
"For almost the past four months, ever since coming back to Hogwarts, she has gotten through it alone, by her own choice. You underestimate her strength, Harry, and so does she.  
  
"Ginny bears the burden of feeling responsible. If only she'd been stronger, she thinks, none of this would have happened. She feels she was weak. That is why she feels she deserved your treatment."  
  
Before Harry could even decide what to think about all this, he heard a pair of feet come pounding up the stairs, followed by a frantic knocking on Dumbledore's door.   
  
"Come in."   
  
Ginny burst through the door, out of breath, visibly distraught. She saw Harry and started a bit.  
  
"We can speak more later, Harry. Go back to your room." Dumbledore's words conveyed an expectation of instant obedience, and Harry rose quickly.   
  
She took her eyes away from Harry. "No, Professor, he can stay," Ginny said hurriedly. "It's about Hermione."   
  
  
Dreams Series: Part Six  
  
Harry felt his throat tighten. Hermione... please, God, please... just let her be ok...  
  
"I was taking a nap. It's a different dream now, Professor; I don't know if it's the present or the future or the past. Voldemort is talking to some of his death eaters; I don't know which ones. He's ordered them to kill all the Grangers."   
  
Dumbledore turned to a bookshelf behind his desk to ring a small, strange-sounding bell. "I've just let all the heads of houses know to go to their common rooms and make sure all their students are accounted for and to tell them to stay put until I say otherwise. Hurry along back so Professor McGonagall won't be worried about you."   
  
"Please, Professor, can't I-"  
  
"Harry, go back to the common room quickly and wait." There was no arguing with that voice, even as anxious as Harry was to make sure Hermione and her family were ok.  
  
The three went down the staircase and walked quickly together until Dumbledore left the other two to go to the main door. As he was walking away from them, Harry and Ginny saw him push up the sleeve of his robe to tap his right forearm with his wand.   
  
They continued on. Harry stopped and said, "Ginny, I'm so sor-"   
  
She turned toward him looking absolutely astonished and cut him off quickly. "Let's focus, shall we? Hermione might be dead right now." Ginny waved her wand arm in the air, "Avada Kedavra-poof! Dead. Worrying about anything else isn't appropriate right now."   
  
"Yes it is. Dumbldore just told me that at times like these everyone on the same side has to be united, and I can't do that until I make this right with you."   
  
Her eyes flashed. "Make it right with me? Just like that? Ok, Harry. Fine, we're united, but I still don't want to talk to you right now. You had a right to know about Hermione, that's enough." She started walking again.  
  
Harry stared after her.  
  
(Well, you have a right to know that I'm sorry for saying all those things to you and never trying to understand that you've been absolutely alone with these dreams and that seeing Cedric killed night after night must have been at least as bad as actually being there.   
  
(And you have a right to know that I'm sorry you have to see all my worst memories over and over again. I would do anything I could to stop that from happening to you, not because I'm angry about your seeing them but because nobody deserves that kind of pain.  
  
(And you have a right to know that I'm grateful for your protecting me when I didn't deserve it, for allowing me to still have some people speak to me.  
  
(And you have a right to know that I don't think you're damaged goods because Voldemort transferred some of his powers to you. He did that to me too. And it's been really hard because it did make me feel like damaged goods for a really long time and it's even worse to know that you feel like that. It's like watching what happened to me from outside my body, and I never realized how bad it was until I had to watch you suffer through it.)  
  
He stood there dumbly watching her walk away, thinking so many things and saying nothing at all.  
  
Then he started walking toward her rapidly. "Walk away from me, Ginny Weasley. Keep on walking, try, right now, go ahead. I will follow. I want to help you; I am not going to let you do this alone."   
  
She wheeled around to look him in the eye. Her voice was confident, calmly outraged, as she said, "Not everything's about you, Harry, or don't you get that? I am not ten years old anymore. I'm not the freckled, star-struck idiot who's waiting for her prince to come save her, ok? I don't need or want the great famous Harry Potter to make all my problems go away, believe it or not. I've done this for four months on my own. Look at me. I'm fine."  
  
Well, at least she was talking to him. "That must be why you were sick all summer. That must be why you flew into my arms like that when you woke up on Halloween. That must be why you have dark circles under your eyes all the time.   
  
"You know what, though? I'm fine, too. That's why I've barely laughed in the past six months. It's because I'm fine. It's because everything is ok, and everyone has forgotten that Voldemort had Wormtail kill Cedric right next to me and no one knows except you that I heard his body thump on the ground when it fell."   
  
"Stop it!" Then she whispered, as if her voice would crack if she talked any louder, "I have to see that all the time, just stop it."   
  
Harry suddenly couldn't speak very loud either. "We're all each other has right now, Ginny. We both thought we were alone before, but we aren't. I was really angry about that until today."   
  
Harry paused to think. "All I've ever had was being alone. I know that sounds really strange. I don't have any family to speak of because I'm The Boy Who Lived. Unique, alone. Granted it was a really bad life, I shouldn't regret that it's gone, but once you knew, I wasn't alone, and it was like you had taken away who I was, not just invaded my privacy...   
  
"I guess you feel the same way, maybe. We both know a lot more about the other than the other is comfortable with. But that is a gift in its own way, I guess. It forces us to remember that 'alone' isn't the essence of what we are. It can unite us, like Dumbledore said, and he IS right-at times like this everyone who's on the same side has to be united.   
  
"And... and I'm so sorry Ginny. I'm so sorry I said what I did. I wish I'd just been there for you and been a friend, The Boy Who Lived to The Girl Who Lived."   
  
Harry was suddenly very nervous, though he couldn't figure out why or about what. Where on earth had all those words come from? He felt more exposed than ever.  
  
Ginny looked up and squared her shoulders. "I'm not The Girl Who Lived, Harry. I'm a girl who got rescued. Anyway, ok, Harry. Apology accepted. We'll call a truce, then." She smiled and nodded, then said, "Come on, Professor McGonagall is going to come looking for us." With that she turned and started walking.   
  
Harry felt oddly disappointed.   
  
Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was just climbing out of the portrait hole when Harry and Ginny reached it.   
  
"Thank heavens. Where have you been? Get inside." She didn't seem to expect an answer. As soon as they were both in, she said, "If you five can take care of yourselves, I'm going to see what is happening." She left before Ginny could explain.  
  
"Ginny, are you ok? You went tearing out of here like you were on fire!"   
  
"Come on over here, Ginny. He's not worthy to wear the Weasley sweater."   
  
"Harry and I have made peace. We've got more important things to talk about." They looked at her, both doubtful and worried. "I'll explain in a minute, just take my word for it right now, ok? There are some things I need to tell you first.  
  
"We don't have time for details right now, so please don't ask any questions." She proceeded to give them an abbreviated version of her dreams. Harry's parents, Cedric's death. She didn't mention Riddle, not that she'd have been able to. The three Weasley boys all had her in a family group hug and didn't seem to want to let go.  
  
"You should have told us."  
  
"If we'd have known we'd have been there for you."   
  
"Are you ok, Ginny?"  
  
She made some muffled noise that must have been a "Yes" because they let her go, then turned to Harry.  
  
"That's what you were so upset about that night. You thought Hermione or I had told her those things."   
  
Hermione. Please, please let her be ok. I tell her I'm sorry, at least try. "Yes. I figured out you couldn't have told her, but it was too late by then. I'm sorry Ron. I was an awful git. I was really terrible."   
  
Ron looked at Ginny. "And I'm sorry for everything I've said to Ginny, too."   
  
"It's ok, Ron, really."   
  
"Apology accepted." They shook hands.   
  
Ginny sat down, both pleased that Harry and Ron were friends again and worried at what she was about to say. "Guys, sit down." They all sat. "That was just background for what I really had to say, so you'd believe me. When you saw me run out of here this afternoon, I'd just woken up from a new dream, one I hadn't had before. It was inside a house. Voldemort was talking to some death eaters, I don't know which ones. Their hoods were all up, and he didn't address them by name." They started making exclamations as if that were the horrible part of the dream. "Guys, please, be quiet. He ordered them to kill the Grangers."   
  
Ron panicked. "What? Hermione? We have to-"  
  
"Dumbledore is taking care of it, all we can do is wait."   
  
"How can you be so calm!" Ron roared.  
  
Ginny burst into tears, all the emotions of the day finally catching up, and brushed them away, angrily. "Look, she's my friend too, and I'm really worried, ok? You know I'd be at the Grangers' house yelling curses if I could, but we don't know where the Grangers live, and we don't have a way to get there. Dumbledore will send us word as soon as he can."   
  
(Brave enough to trust... Strength, even in weakness... Has she always been like this?)  
  
Ron went over and put his arms around Ginny. He looked as terrified as she did, as they all did, Harry supposed.  
  
"I'm sorry Ginny, I shouldn't have yelled."  
  
"S'ok."   
  
They sat in silence for close to an hour. Professor McGonagall came by every ten minutes or so to check on them. Each time they leapt to their feet in case it was Dumbledore, but it never was. Just as they were about to go crazy, they were saved from further anxiety when a barn owl tapped on the window.   
  
They all rushed to the window. Harry untied the letter and sent the owl off to rest.  
  
He opened it and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "They're all ok, Dumbledore got there just in time. None of the Grangers are hurt, their house is even fine. He thinks the Grangers will be safer if Hermione isn't there. She's coming back with Dumbledore tonight! They'll be here at eight! The Grangers say thank you, Ginny. We're all to stay in the common room until he brings her back to us."   
  
Ron looked about to cry with relief. He grabbed the letter to read it for himself, then looked at his watch. "It's half past. Thank goodness, they'll be here soon."  
  
Even after knowing everything was ok, Harry and the Weasleys couldn't do anything but wait the wait and watch their watches. By five until eight all five were standing at the portrait hole.   
  
"Hermione!"   
  
"We were so worried!"  
  
"Are you ok?"   
  
"Come in, sit down!"  
  
"Hermione, I'm so sorry. I'm so glad you're ok."  
  
"Can I get through the portrait hole now, guys?" Hermione smiled at them, much less shaken than she'd been an hour ago.   
  
"Yes, do let us in, please."  
  
They all immediately backed away to let Hermione and Professor Dumbledore in.  
  
"Are you sure you won't go to Madame Pomfrey for Dreamless Sleep, Miss Granger?"   
  
"Thank you, Professor, I'm really ok. I won't stay up long, I promise."   
  
"Goodnight to you all, then." He nodded a smile at Ginny in particular. Then he added, after a short glance at Hermione, "None of you are to leave Gryffindor Tower for any reason." The portrait swung shut.  
  
Hermione threw her arms around Ginny's neck. "Oh, Ginny, you saved my life, and my parents!"   
  
"I guess you got the update, then."   
  
"I did, yes." She turned to Harry.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Hermione, for what I said to you. I was being completely irrational. You have never done anything disloyal to me, or to anybody that I've seen."  
  
She then threw her arms around his neck. "It's ok, I wish you'd told me, I understand now..." Then she whispered in his ear, "This is what you wouldn't tell me right before school, isn't it?"   
  
Harry squeezed her "yes" and let go. "Are you ok, really? Would you like to talk about it? Or no? Whatever you want to do."   
  
Her eyes darkened. "I would like to tell you all as a matter of fact. I think I have some information you'll be interested to know.  
  
"We'd been at Christmas dinner at my grandparents' house, with all my relatives, and had just gotten home. We were getting out of the car when out of the blue Dumbledore and Professor Lupin and some people I didn't know apparated in our driveway. Dumbledore and Lupin ran over to make sure we were ok. A few seconds later two people who turned out to be aurors showed up.   
  
"About this time my parents and I were feeling a bit stupid. After all, there was nothing wrong, and neighbors were starting to come out on their porches. The aurors were grumbling and actually about to leave when three death eaters apparated.  
  
"One instantly disapparated upon seeing how well-protected we were. The other two were a bit more stupid, and were caught. The aurors took them away. Lupin and the others took care of modifying the neighbors' memories while Dumbledore explained to my parents that Voldemort was probably just after me, and that all three of us would be safer if I went on back to Hogwarts. Mom and Dad took the news pretty badly. I hadn't really told them about Voldemort. I'd really wanted them to just think I was at a nice, safe boarding school like all their friends' kids... But anyway..."   
  
Silence.   
  
Ginny finally asked what they all wanted to know. "Which two death eaters were caught?"   
  
Hermione gave a half-laugh. "That's what I wanted to tell you. One was Crabbe's father. The other was Goyle's."   
  
  
End Part Six  
  
  
And the one who got away? Tune in next time. I smile at you from computer and think lovely things about you if you'll review, even to flame! I've given you lots of new information to think about... can you see what is wrong with this picture of Ginny's dreams now? You've just learned something pretty important, and you're going to feel so smart if you figure out what it is (I know you will-you guys are a razor-sharp bunch, as I've said)  
  
The next part will be up in five days or a week.   
  
A general thought: You know you write too much Harry Potter fan fiction when you've added "dungbomb" to your Microsoft Word dictionary.  



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